The story
Sofia and Florville are in love, but her guardian, Gaudenzio, opposes the match. Florville’s father and Gaudenzio are old enemies. Florville’s father dies, removing one barrier, but Gaudenzio has already agreed to wed Sofia to the son of his old friend, Signor Bruschino. Sofia has never met her fiancée, as they were betrothed by correspondence. On his way to meet Sofia, young Bruschino stops at a tavern, runs up an impressive bill and is detained when he is unable to pay. Seizing the opportunity, Florville pretends to be Bruschino junior so that he can marry Sofia. Complications arise when Bruschino senior arrives at Gaudenzio’s house. Fortunately, however, he is eventually forced to accept Florville as his own son. In a playful trio, Florville (as Bruschino junior) begs his "father" for forgiveness, while Gaudenzio upbraids old Bruschino for his lack of fatherly sympathy.

Background
The last of Rossini’s one-act farces – compositions that were once considered to be ‘minor’ and have only recently been reassessed as small compositional pearls – Il signor Bruschino is a classic comedy of misunderstandings, with mistaken identities, family quarrels, much sought after young girls and the final recognition that precedes the inevitable happy end. Based on the comedy Le fils par hasard by René de Chazet and Maurice Ourry (1809), the libretto is by Giuseppe Foppa, a Venetian poet and author who also wrote the one-act pieces L’inganno felice and La scala di seta. Written for Teatro San Moisè, as were the other four, it debuted on 27 January 1813 and ever since, its instrumental performances have included the magnificent initial symphony.